Thanks for tossing out that idea. Others have asked us to do that, also. I started to reply earlier, but wanted to give it more thought. Pardon the length and rambling of this reply.
I preface everything by reminding folks that I'm pretty below average. There are folks on this site who I would put on a pedestal when it comes to hunting certain places, species, or seasons. If one hangs out here and pays close attention, there is probably more great information provided on this site than on any place on Al Gore's world wide web. A month of studying on Hunt Talk would likely yield greater benefit than any content series I could produce.
We use media platforms to provide information and encouragement to get out and try things or to hunt more than they otherwise would have. The WHY of our platforms is "To promote self-guided public land hunting and create advocates for that cause." In that effort, we try to balance the benefit of providing information that might have been helpful for me to know along my elk hunting journey against information we feel is best learned by experience and failure. It is not a perfect balance and we are trying some ideas and purposefully not trying others. Some of the things we do are working and a few experiments weren't what we hoped for.
I provide that background to explain why we do what we do and how we do it, as imprecise and imperfect as it is. I feel there is great benefit in some lessons being learned by failure or frustration. I see value in bits of information being learned by researching and working hard at teaching oneself, with the self-discovered/self-taught pieces being the nuggets that best prepare us for applying the same research and discovery manners to the next hunt or the next species or the next location.
Gear, basic camp skills, field dressing, overlooked opportunities, draw strategies, all seem to be things that are easily explained and help people with steps that will get them in the field, get them a tag, keep them safe, or get their game out of the field. If you looked at our content white boards, you would see that we try to provide foundational basics in everything we do. We expect people will take those basics and apply those systems on their hunt, learning how to adapt to their preferred hunting style or their local hunting area.
We try to put some "How to" content in everything we do, to varying degrees. Some are straight "How to" segments. Others pieces are meant to primarily entertain, with some "How to" mixed in.
The E-scouting series we did with onX last year was one I gave a lot of consideration to. It was the most direct "How to" start-to-finish series we've ever done, even more so than the tag drawing overviews we do each year. I feel I fell short with that series, based on feedback I've received. I had hoped people would focus on the basics that explain the five calendar periods of the elk season and the four basic needs of elk. That is how you find elk. That system can be applied to deer or other species, just like I adapted it to elk by reflecting on how I was successful catching walleyes in new lakes.
Most the feedback I got was people asking about tactics and gear, which told me I had not explained how important those basics are. I've went and re-watched that series a couple times to see what I could do to explain it more. I'm not sure, but given how people seem to have skipped past those very important basics, it is obvious I did something wrong. Every question I get asked I answer by going back to that basic premise that you find elk based on the seasonal need they have at the time you are hunting.
We also got a lot of heat for publishing that series, summarized as, "Why are you telling everyone this information? Let them figure it out." Same as we get heat when we say we are in "Central Wyoming" or "Southern Arizona" or "Southeast Montana" or "Western Colorado." There is a balance we try to find that determines how much information we give or don't give, mostly driven by what I think they can/should figure out by trial and error. Some are mad if we don't give GPS coordinates and have even contacted sponsors to complain that I wouldn't tell them where we hunted. And I've had others hammer me for saying what state we are hunting. Point being, no matter what we do, some think it is too much information and some think it is not enough. My job to direct where on that information spectrum we operate.
The lesson I drew from that E-scouting series is that most hunters don't want to invest the time in learning about elk; what elk need, when they need it, and how those two questions solve the riddle of where elk will go to satisfy those needs. It is not as sexy as the latest gear items or calling strategies or long distance shooting or fitness or....... But, those basic points are way more important to consistently finding elk than any of the sexy items. Maybe I need a tattoo on my forehead, "To kill an elk you have to find an elk."
Finding elk is the biggest struggle hunters face. It was, and still is, for me. In the past I would focus on "shiny objects" of gear and shortcuts, thinking that was the solution to finding elk. Nope. The more I get back to the foundational aspects and think that through in more detail, the quicker I get through the drought periods of no elk.
I am surprised at the number of hunters, no matter the species, who want/expect some magical short cut as a replacement for the lifetime learning about the species they are hunting. That is a reality I have to consider when we produce content. Do we just do pieces that are the click bait short cuts and avoid the foundational pieces that help people build their elk knowledge? Or, do we continue to hammer on these basics of how we find elk in different states, across a variety of habitats, during many different seasons? Do we just show the days when we find elk or do we show the days we struggle to find elk and explain the learning experience that provides me, even after 25 years of hunting elk?
Those preceding paragraphs might seem a bit of a tangent, but it gets it me to this explanation. The content we provide is to educate (to whatever degree a below average hunter can educate), inform, and entertain. Hopefully a bit of inspiration mixed in to that. In doing so, we mix it up and hope the people will follow along and gain a bit along the way.
We know that hunting is species dependent, location specific, influenced by condition/season, and each hunter has a different interest in topics. For us to do a start-to-finish series on any species would be a large content investment on a hunt that might only fit a very small segment of hunters who hunt that way/species/habitat. I feel we need to continue preaching the foundation of how to find elk and let the viewer develop their own tricks and tactics that work best for their hunting style/location. Finding elk is fun. Help people consistently find elk on public land will make it more fun for them and provide more encounters. More encounters lead to more mistakes, which leads to more learning. Or, at least it works that way for me.
I can't say we won't someday do what you mention. Given what I've learned while producing digital content in the last few years, we have the entire 2019 year planned, pending what tags we draw. We have targeted 2019 as the "Year of the Elk" for us. We want to dive deeper into elk hunting and all that it entails, focusing on the basics of finding public land elk consistently. We have examples of what content has worked and what hasn't, with those successes and failures guiding us for 2019.
Maybe I will miss the mark in 2019 and I will come back to this thread and decide it would be better to do what you suggest. Thanks for throwing it out there. You are one of many who have made a similar request.
